The in-person module of EMP-A 2026 (Energy Modelling Platform for Africa), an international capacity-building programme aimed at strengthening skills and professional networks in energy planning and modelling for sustainable and climate-compatible development pathways, took place from January 26 to February 6 at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

For the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano, the course was coordinated and delivered by Riccardo Mereu (Associate Professor and co-holder of the UNESCO Chair in Energy for Sustainable Development) together with Alessandro Onori, a STEN PhD candidate collaborating with SE4All within the interdisciplinary Science in Policy fellowship programme. The course adopted a strongly application-oriented approach, with a focus on open-source tools.

The training programme covered the full workflow of off-grid energy system planning and modelling, with particular attention to:

• CESP – Comprehensive Energy Solution Planning, an evidence-based framework integrating techno-economic and socio-contextual dimensions throughout the entire project lifecycle;

• RAMP, for bottom-up demand estimation, supported by a dedicated interface designed to make stochastic load profile generation more accessible;

• MicroGridsPy, an open-source optimization model based on Pyomo for mini-grid sizing and dispatch in isolated contexts, integrating contextual analysis, renewable energy engineering, and optimization methods also under uncertainty (multi-scenario and stochastic approaches);

• a tool for evaluating low-voltage (LV) network topologies to support preliminary planning (line lengths, poles, costs, and connection logic), developed as a lightweight and interactive application.

The course brought together participants from diverse backgrounds and international contexts, reinforcing EMP-A’s objective of fostering transferable skills and building a community of practice among researchers, analysts, and energy planning professionals.